The creation of a permanent identification structure migrant and asylum seekers in Crete announced by the Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Thanos Plevris.
“In Crete there will definitely become a structure, permanent,” Mr Plevris told Action 24. In fact, this is done in all islands. In the islands of the eastern Aegean, the permanent structures we have do not have the same world. When these structures are flowing, the asylum application is recorded and then transferred to the inland where the other structures exist, “he added.
“What has qualified for Crete is the model that, let me tell you in numbers, in 2023 we had 2,000 flows throughout the year, in 2024 we had 4,000 and we have 10,000 in the first half of 2025. Conditions of a legal corridor from Libya to Europe where Crete is part of Crete and therefore there is Crete. The characteristics are: it will be closed in the sense that the world that comes in will have limited freedom, “he said.
Regarding the “limited freedom” regime of the residents, the minister said that they would not be able to circulate but will not stay there for a long time. “It will not be a people’s structure,” said Thanos Plevris.
The camps
Mr Plevris announced that the services of his own ministry are in cooperation with those of the Ministry of National Defense to find non -used camps and may be able to change use as soon as possible to accommodate immigrants and asylum seekers.
Indeed, Mr Plevris did not rule out one of these cases to be the old camp in Kasteli, Chania, saying it is one of the camps examined.
“In Crete it is not a normal migratory flow”
Regarding the government’s decision to freeze asylum applications, the minister said: “We believe that what is happening in Crete is not a normal migratory flow.”
He explained that if the arrivals continued at the rate of 1,000 people per day, it would have collapsed any possibility of reception of these people and therefore the government proceeded with the amendment to a three -month suspension of asylum applications. “Now you can move the refueling – return procedures,” Mr Plevris noted.
‘Either you are working or in prison if you do not have a right to asylum’
“Did you lose asylum? Do you have no asylum right? Criminal offense, prison without suspension, no payment. So you are working to go back or enter five years in prison, “the Minister of Immigration and Asylum also said.
He then stressed: “Secondly, did you enter the country illegally and have no asylum? No legalization process. Once you have entered illegally you will know that the Greek state will never give you the right to be legalized in any time. He who did not get asylum must come back »
“The border of Greece will not be a ‘strainer’»
“I am a fan of the European level. If the other comes here and is having a good time, he doesn’t leave. He has to understand when you are illegal Your journey is a prison. I didn’t say we have molecules as SYRIZA had. What I am trying to do is, the other to understand that if he has no asylum status has no reason to stay in Greece, “Mr Plevris said.
“I had said that border guard also accepts losses. If we want to get the port and frigates right now, you realize boats to come. If you have borders and the guard, there is also the deterrence that allows international law and deterrence that should not be done. Greece’s borders will not be a “strainer” and it is clear that the 3 million who are currently waiting in Libya to come to Europe, if they come will create a population replacement conditions. There are 200 million people that are suffering outside Europe, not all of them come to Europe, “he said.
“I fully respect those who were ministers, I think that everyone tried to serve the government’s policy. Beyond that, in my appreciation, it is important to review all the benefits again. Examination of all benefits including money given for housing, in my opinion, must be re -examined because if we do not want Europe to be a magnet as a whole and to come to people, it must understand something simple: if I have a refugee I will be protected, if I have come to terms with financial reasons. I serve this doctrine, “he said.